


The Dreaming Jackal

by bzarcher



Series: Corruption [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Corruption, Dreams and Nightmares, Dreamsharing, F/F, Hallucinations, Light Bondage, Manipulation, Masturbation, Serious Discussions, Sleep Deprivation, Teasing, Training, Transformation, fatigue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 04:30:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16339862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bzarcher/pseuds/bzarcher
Summary: It has been almost two months since Angela Ziegler disappeared without a trace from a battle in Ilios.Overwatch attempts to move forward, but Fareeha Amari keeps finding herself distracted and unable to focus as she fails to deal with her unspoken feelings for the doctor, made even more difficult by the strangest dreams...





	The Dreaming Jackal

Fareeha strained against the unyielding bonds that held her in place, then collapsed back, panting.

She didn’t quite know where she was, but despite being immobilized, she felt... _safe_. More than safe, really. Protected. _Cherished._

The sudden realization that she was naked gave her a shock, but she quickly relaxed as slender fingers gently caressed her arm, soothing her fear away. A sense of familiarity in their touch that made Fareeha melt, even with the slight surprise of a second pair of hands roaming over her back in a way that felt...appraising. Appreciative, but measured.

The experiences made a shiver of excitement run through her that quickly turned to a building pleasure, particularly as she felt something thick and oddly ridged press against her crotch, teasing her as it dragged slowly back and forth until Fareeha wanted to scream.

She desperately wanted to bear down, to grind on it, to find _relief_ , but just as she finally felt as if she was ready to burst the harsh buzz of her alarm interrupted the scene, snapping her almost painfully into wakefulness.

“HAH!”

Fareeha jolted upright, throwing off the light blanket she normally covered herself with. Normally she found herself getting cold during the night thanks to the milder climate in Gibraltar, but now she was dripping with sweat as if she’d been running a fever, and her heart raced as if she’d been sprinting her way through a firefight until she made herself take a few deep breaths to try and calm down.

She let herself fall back onto the mattress with a groan, then fumbled for the alarm until she had slapped the off switch into submission.

As silence fell, Fareeha tried to understand why she’d woken up in such distress. A nightmare? She didn’t think so. Not...quite. She couldn’t really remember much of it, except the lingering impression of a pair of eyes watching her. A violet so bright it was almost pink, so vibrant they seemed to be illuminated from within. Clearly unnatural, yet something about their gaze was hauntingly familiar.

“So weird,” she muttered to herself, then gasped as she realized how thoroughly soaked she was. Had it all been some strange stress induced sex dream?

Her fingers slid beneath the waistband of her shorts, and a low groan escaped as she touched herself. She really _should_ be getting up and taking a morning run, but one morning off wouldn’t kill her, would it?

Silently offering a prayer of thanks for having a private room, Fareeha decided to spend a little time finishing the job her subconscious had started, and once that was done she’d grab a shower and try to get on with her day, weird dreams or no weird dreams.

* * *

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, _whoa! TIME OUT!”_

Fareeha broke off the dive she’d been in, hitting the Raptora’s thrusters to push her back up to a safe hovering altitude over the practice range before she punched her comm. “What is it, Lúcio? What’s wrong?”

Down below, their new medic craned his neck to look up at her, and she could hear the frown in his voice. “I was gonna ask _you_ that. Did you not see Tracer in the way before you opened fire?”

“She was clear of the blast radius,” Fareeha said mildly. “We have to get used to working in close proximity - especially if we’re working on VIP escorts. I used these tactics at Helix all the time.”

“She _wasn’t_ ,” Lúcio insisted. “And at Helix all your dudes were wearing battle armor just like you! We’re a little softer here, right? I don’t want to be digging shrapnel out of our own guys.”

Part of her wanted to argue that Lena really hadn’t been that close, and that she understood the capabilities of her weapons _and_ her team better than someone who’d only been working with them for a few weeks, but the expressions of the others on the field stopped her.

Fareeha let herself glide down to the ground and took a breath before she nodded. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I’m still used to a lot of Helix tactics, and we all need to make adjustments.” She lifted her visor and turned to Lena, who was watching them with a pensive expression. “Are you ok, Lena?”

“I am now,” the Brit said as she smiled to both of them. “Can’t have some of my best mates fighting over me, yeah?”

That got a laugh, and Fareeha tried to make herself relax. “So - shall we try things again from the top?”

Once the training exercise was over, she’d considered going to talk to Lena to make sure things were good between them, or to speak with Lúcio, but the DJ solved her problem by knocking on the door of the locker room as she finished getting changed.

“Hey, Cap, you got a minute?”

“I was just thinking of coming to find you,” she admitted as she shut her locker. “Come on in - it’s just me in here.”

Lúcio nodded, closing the door behind him before he grabbed a seat on the bench. “Thanks. I just wanted to make sure we were cool.”

“Of course,” Fareeha said reassuringly as she sat across from him. “I want you to trust me enough to call me on a mistake, and to make sure we’re working together as a team.”

“That’s cool,” he said with a little sigh of relief. “I mean, I know I’m…” He trailed off, and the air in the room felt a bit heavier. “I’m new,” Lúcio finally said. “But I can tell your head’s not entirely in the game, sometimes. Not since...y’know.”

 _Not since Ilios_ , Fareeha filled in for him. _Not since the ‘disappearance.'_

It was easier to say Angela had disappeared. Because they’d seen her broken pistol on the ground, after Talon had withdrawn. Found the shattered pieces of her Valkyrie suit, and the footprints from her apparent crash site that had just...stopped.

So they said she’d _disappeared,_ because they all knew if Talon had her she was almost certainly dead, or worse.

_Will she show up on a battlefield one day like Widowmaker did? Blue skin and a horrific shock for those who knew the person she’d once been? Or worse, would she not seem to be changed at all until it’s much too late?_

Lúcio cleared his throat, and Fareeha flushed with embarrassment as she realized she’d done exactly what he’d been concerned about.

“She was my friend,” Fareeha finally said. “She was my teammate, and I wasn’t there to protect her when she needed me.”

“Nobody blames you for needing to deal with it,” he said quietly. “But today could have been real bad. Are you sure you don’t need some time off?”

“People die every day,” she said as she tried to gather her resolve. “And my team needs me.” She put a hand on his shoulder as she stood, giving him as much of a smile as she could manage. “Which is why I’m going to take this seriously. I’ll have dinner, make an early night of it, and get myself in the right frame of mind. Sound good?”

Lúcio nodded as he got up, his hair bouncing off his shoulders. “Yeah, sounds good. But...you know we’re here, right? You can talk to us.”

“I do,” Fareeha reassured him. “Thanks, Lúcio. I really do appreciate it.”

His look of concern followed her to the mess, where she barely tasted her dinner, and back to her bed as she stared up at the ceiling.

Angela _had_ been her friend. On and off, sure, but a presence in her life for almost as long as Fareeha could remember. “Big sis”, confidant, sympathetic ear, first crush, and a million other things over the years. But despite what everyone seemed to think, never ‘girlfriend’ or ‘lover’...even if Fareeha had been trying to build up the courage to ask her out for the last few months.

 _Missed opportunity_ , she thought with a sigh as she tried to get comfortable in the bed.

She’d failed to protect her team, failed to save her friend, failed to share her feelings…

Fareeha tried to push those thoughts away. She was serious about wanting to get her head right.

She couldn’t let anyone else down.

* * *

_She’s been dreaming of you._

_I know! It’s rather sweet._

_Oh, I’d hardly describe a few of the things she wished you to do to her as ‘sweet’, Angel._

_Mmmm, no, perhaps not. But quite a few seem rather_ _fun_ _._

_Indeed... so long as she doesn’t mind sharing._

_I hardly think that will be an issue. After all,_

_I’ve been encouraging her to consider a few...possibilities._

_She’s always had so much potential, hasn’t she?_

_Loneliness. Resentment. Frustration. Rejection. Grief. Rage. Passion. Hunger._

_Oh, yes. There is so much there to work with…_

 

It was dark. So, so dark. But Fareeha did not fear the dark. It wrapped around her lovingly, with a quiet peace that reminded her of nights on patrol outside the Temple of Anubis.

Somehow she knew she was in the desert, and as her ears twitched, she could hear the sounds of small animals moving on the sand. Jerboa, perhaps, or a desert hare.

She blinked her eyes to clear them, and it was _beautiful_.

Desert sands beneath the night sky, the stars spilling across the horizon, and a slivered moon.

She didn’t think it was Egypt, but it felt familiar. As if she were _home_ , and her tail began to thump with excitement against the ground.

Fareeha stretched and felt her toes dig into the sand, finding her balance before she dashed across the dunes, her ears flattening against her head as she raced to find her prey.

She startled a fennec from where it had been lurking, the fox trying to escape a far deadlier predator. Thrilling with every pounding beat of her heart, she let the fennec build a bit of distance before she coiled and sprang, leaping as if she had her Raptora’s boosters on, then dived onto the animal with a hungry snarl, the claws on her fingertips tearing through fur and hide.

_Fareeha…_

She’d just swallowed a mouthful of hot blood and sweet raw meat when the voice called to her, and it made her straighten up and look around, her ears twitching as she tried to concentrate.

_Come to me, darling…_

She _knew_ that voice, almost as well as she knew her own, and her heart leapt as she turned towards the source, running back the way she came, kicking up furrows in the cool sands, her impromptu meal discarded.

_So beautiful…_

She felt herself blush at the praise even as she felt her feet slipping as she tried to climb a dune, forcing her to dig in and use her hands to help pull herself up, the fine grit of the sand mixing with the drying blood.

When she crested the dune, the sight before her took Fareeha’s breath away. A beautiful city, shining with golden light as it rose above the silver sands. The faint glow of energy shields, lanterns, and the flickering of cars and transports flying through the city.

_We’ve been waiting for you._

She felt a pang of longing that was so intense that she could almost swear she felt a physical hunger. A need to climb the walls and find the woman calling to her. To hold her, feel her, kiss her, taste her. Claim and be claimed by her…

Fareeha sank to her knees in the soft sand, her tail brushing slowly from side to side as she threw back her head and cried out in want.

Luminous violet eyes found her own as a pale skinned hand gently cradled her cheek, the razor sharp tips of her fingernails so carefully pressing against her skin without piercing, the pad of a thumb running along her _udjat_.

“Shhhh,” that lovely voice soothed her, and Fareeha relaxed into her touch, suddenly aware of who had been whispering into her mind.

 _“Angela,”_ she breathed with relief, and let herself be comforted, her eyes sliding shut.

“Not long now,” another voice joined them, and Fareeha felt something sinuous slide against her leg, so strangely comforting as long fingers carded through her hair, sharp nails scratching the coarse fur at the back of her ears where they merged into her scalp.

“Is this who you are?” The stranger’s cultured voice seemed warm and curious, almost fascinated as she caressed her. “How very interesting…”

“My lovely Fareeha,” Angela murmured, and she felt the press of lips against her forehead, just a bit too warm to be human.

_Soon..._

Fareeha groaned as she rolled over to turn her alarm off. Another bizarre dream, but at least she wasn’t soaked through her underwear this time.

She grunted as she got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, splashing a bit of water from the sink on her face to help clear the fog that seemed to have settled into her brain.

For a moment, her reflection seemed...wrong. Missing the thick, dark furred ears or golden hued eyes she’d expected, her hands perfectly clean and normal, no thick claws growing from her nailbeds or a mix of dried blood and sand to be washed from her knuckles.

She stared at the mirror as she brought a finger up to gently trace the tattoo below her eye, trying to decide if she felt relieved or disappointed.

When she’d finished working out, showering, and going to the mess for breakfast, she still couldn’t really say.

Brigitte waved her over after she’d collected her plate and a mug of tea, and she’d barely sat down before the engineer gave her a concerned look.

“You look horrible.”

Fareeha snorted as she picked up a forkful of eggs. “Good morning to you, too.”

“Sorry,” Brigitte apologized between bites of her toast. “But you really don’t look good. Are you feeling ok?”

Fareeha considered the answer to that. “People have been asking me that a lot, lately.”

“You’ve been under a lot of stress,” Brigitte pointed out. “I mean, it’s understandable. But we can see you’re having a difficult time.”

She sighed as she put her fork down. She’d known Brigitte a long time, as another one of the original “Overwatch Brats.” Plus, she wasn’t just an engineer or member of the team in the field, she was a part of their medical support just as much as Lúcio was.

“I’ve been having a lot of weird dreams,” Fareeha finally admitted quietly. “Not nightmares. Not exactly. But...weird. I don’t really feel like I’m getting much rest, no matter how much I try to sleep.”

Brigitte made an understanding hum as she cut a piece of her sausage. “Since we...lost...Angela, we don’t really have a fully trained doctor, but…” She looked up, her own voice quieting to just above a whisper. “Reinhardt has trouble like that, sometimes. I could see if we have a few things in the medical bay supplies that might help.”

Fareeha considered that as she finished her food, then nodded. “I’d appreciate it.”

“OK. Stop by later - I’ll get what you need.”

She gave Brigitte a sincere smile before reaching for her tea. “Thanks. It means a lot.”

“Hey, you said it yourself,” Brigitte smiled as she stood up. “Us Overwatch brats have to stick together!”

That night Fareeha took the pills, got ready for bed, and when she woke up the next morning she felt decently rested, with no memory of any dreams at all.

“That’s good,” she told herself as she brushed her teeth. “It helped. I needed that.”

After she repeated that to herself a few more times, Fareeha almost believed it.


End file.
